i didn't use hardware cloth, i did chicken wire, worked for 2 years, then they breached it... they will just walk out and dive under whatever you do, they are very voracious, they ate 200 varieties of mine this spring... good luck.

Jain,
Did they go after the roses' roots too?

Berndoodle,
The pocket gophers here in heavy soil make their tunnels about 6" down.

iris gal they are too busy with iris, dahlias, daffs, tulips and dutch iris to NEED to go after the roses... they are ALL over my acres of flowers, the aforementioned are what truly disappears, the rest may have minor damage. the very WORST thing they did was spread nutsedge through out their tunnels, creating a weed nightmare for me...

Iris, my roses are planted in cages where the gophers are active. They don't bother everything. In fact, they haven't killed anything....yet, including my bearded iris. There is a lot of alternative greenery for them to feed on, and my dog is somewhat predatory. The garden is still newly landscaped, so I anticipate more attacks in the future.

jain, I've found the hardware cloth lasts a little longer and is more effective than chicken wire. It has much smaller holes. Leaving a 3 or 4 inch edge to protrude above the soil, jagged and rather unpleasant, is designed to keep pocket gophers from breaching security at ground level. We'll see if it works.

Jain, are the gophers too big for the rattlesnakes to eat?

are you trying to give me nightmares? i have such a huge phobia of those that slither... lets just say after the snakes wake from their winter hibernation the gophers do seam less active... i found several in my iris beds this spring too... most creepily my husband does kill them because we 17 pets, have had 4 bit and one die, so its self preservation for us. i do think my population is high because they do lack real predators...

Auggh. Jain. What a nighmare. I don't have nutsedge (nutgrass) here but have had it in another location.

Can't even mention the s____ word. Paralyzed when I see one.

Berndoodle ~~ I haven't lost beardeds to the pocket gophers. My tiny female cat is a ferocious hunter and they've been gone for a year now. I could tell when the gopher had won. The side of her face swelled up. Before they cleared/were cleared out I did lose all my dahlias and crocus. So I am keeping new ones potted. They didn't get the Dutch iris bulbs that were in a buried coffee can with hole punched in the bottom.

Try sprinkling blood meal around the rhizomes. Its good for the bulbs and the scent scares away herbaceous rodents. An old timer at the Farmer's Coop gave me this tip to keep the rabbits from eatting my newly planted vegetables. Works like a charm. The scent makes them think a preditor is near by.

Berndoodle, you struck a nerve. Those darn gophers! I watched a whole chrysanthemum plant vanish before my eyes last week (right before annual bloom season). The gophers just pulled it under in broad daylight. I, like you, have a location where the population is huge in a vast area.

I am trying something new this year with my beardeds since I do not have a huge collection yet (maybe never if the gophers continue to invite their family & friends to my place). I will be planting them in clay pots, submerged, rim level to the ground. I am concerned about the hole in the bottom of the pot...don't know if they can sqeeze through. I know the plants won't have a lot of room to spread. I'll just divide them again next year.

My method for foiling gophers on Bearded Iris. remove two inches of soil and lay down 1/2" hardware cloth. Replace soil and plant the rhizomes. Any gophers that try to 'cheat' get blasted with a .22 revolver.

My husband is making bulb boxes out of 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Six sides. I hope the 1/2 hole on top of the box is big enough. we’ll see what happens….. having just spent a fortune at van bourgonin, i am loathe to plant without a box. (we live in deep country with every type of critter)

Rick Tasco has said he dug a trench around his growing area 18" deep and put a wire 'fence' in, extending above ground to stop the crawlies..

I use 1/2" galvanized HW cloth under my raised beds. Or you can make a large bed with wire in bottom and sides - say 12" deep. Its a pain, but only a 1 time pain...

The Black Hole Pocket Gopher trap works really well! You'd be surprised at how few gophers you actually have.....they just tunnel a LOT! ♥ I catch one gopher a year....and have no issues losing the mass plantings of iris I have here.